* CP’s Young and Hungry columnist, Tim Carman, deems Biden yummier than Obama, at least when it comes to .Asia Nine’s inaugural-themed sushi: “This may be the only time I’ll actually choose Biden over Obama,” he writes. the “Biden Vice President Roll, with its deep savory roasted duck and sweet and spicy accents, is superior to the one-note wonder known as the Obama President Roll, which essentially tastes like spicy, toasted sesame seeds.” Who knew Biden could be so sweet, spicy and delicious? Oh, we all did. [pictured, right]

* From the New York Times‘ Motherlode blog: Why do seasoned parents insist upon hazing the pregnant with parenting horror stories?

* Want longer eyelashes? Of course you do, because even the most minute detail of your appearance will somehow never be good enough. Introducing “Latisse,” the “first federally approved prescription drug for growing longer, lusher lashes”—from the makers of Botox (really!).

* Amanda Marcotte reviews the news anthology Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape, which posits that a “culture of rape” stems from misconceptions of men as predators and women as prey: “If we began to imagine that sex is something that happens because every party involved is burning with desire, instead of something that one person gives up reluctantly to another as a token for love or even just to get him to shut up, then that would make it easier for people to see rape for what it is, and it would make rape that much harder to excuse or rationalize away.”

The most recent issue of Ms. Magazine has stirred up some controversy for featuring a superhero president-elect in a bodice-ripping illustration that reveals a shirt that reads, “This is What a Feminist Looks Like.” Some feminists have reacted with outrage at the president-elect’s imaginary rifling of their closest.

“[T]he easy to please feminists over at Ms. Magazine put Barack Obama on the cover and gush like teeny-boppers that Obama is some Feminist Super Man who will, presumably, save us little wimin,” wrote the Tennessee Guerilla Women.

“[O]h, the irony of picturing a feminist as a superMAN,” wrote a poster on Hillary’s Village.

“This seems designed to mock people who supported Hillary Clinton during the Democratic Primary. Why does Ms. want to do that now?” writes Feminist Law Professors.

I’m not offended by the cover’s assertion that Barack Obama looks like a feminist, but I am disappointed that his Vice Presidential pick and fellow feminist Joe Biden hasn’t received the same ridiculous superhero photoshop treatment. I implore you, Ms.: release a Biden version! Check out my blinged-out Biden entry, after the jump:

Read More “Joe Biden Is What A Feminist Looks Like” »

Last week, local blogger—and Clinton-turned-Palin supporter—Lynette Long wrote about a startling encounter she and her friends had in a D.C. restaurant—a girls-night-out that ended in a floor-dragging, face-punching assault. Dubbing it “The War of the Sexes,” Long detailed how she and her friends attempted to borrow an unused chair from a group of men. Story goes: the men refused; the women took the chair anyway; the men called the women “cunts”; one woman poured a glass of water on a man; that man took her by the hair, dragged her across the floor, and punched her in the face; the men left victoriously; the women called the cops; the cops sided with the men.

Obviously, this is no good. But after Long faults the group of men, the unsympathetic bartender, and the cops, she turns to an unsuspecting target of blame for violence against women: Barack Obama. Long details why Obama may be to blame for her friend’s battered face:

Read More “Blame Obama: Violence Against Women” »

Joe Biden’s Teeth are honored with their own meme.

* Best Week Ever has the silliest of silly pet costumes (Cheerleader Dog, pictured). Personal favorite: Redneck Dog with fake foam beer belly.

* Julia Lapidos for Slate informs readers of how to follow Joe Biden’s advice to “gird your loins.” (Hint: This plan does not incorporate your genitals). Learn more in “Loin-Girding 101.”

* Via Funny or Die: Rashida Jones (of The Office) and Natalie Portman (of everything) have an answer to the financial crisis.

* Obama Girl is back. This time she’s hyping a fake video game president. Yawn.

* GWU student blog The Colonialist analyzes the lyrics to Britney Spears’ new single, “Womanizer,” which the CW’s Gossip Girl has adopted as the unofficial theme song of its resident ascot-wearing attempted rapist, Chuck Bass. All of which is by way of saying: I love Chuck Bass.

* Evil Slutopia finds this sweet Joe Biden cupcake, via my.barackobama.com.

* Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin have got nothin’ on this lady: She advocated for sexual freedom, wore tons of booty ruffles, and ran for president back when most women couldn’t even vote. Plus, she was clairvoyant! NPR’s “All Things Considered” looks back at the first female to run for president, Victoria Woodhull.

* Esquire names Halle Berry the “Sexiest Woman Alive” (no quibbles), “re-enacts” famous Bill Clinton cover with Berry sitting in for Bubba (minor quibble: whither the pants, shirt of Clintonian era?)

* Beware the rogue knitted tree trunk. Outsapop names a new trend in the world of craft: Knitgraffiti.

* For some reason, infoplease wants to know which famous politician you’d want to adopt your children if you died: “Which of these political couples would you select as guardians for your child/children in the event something happened to you and your spouse or partner?”

Because in the event of your death, Joe and Jill Biden, John and Cindy McCain, Barack and Michelle Obama, and First Dude and Sarah Palin will definitely not have anything better to do but raise a stranger’s children. (Yeah, yeah, you can vote here). Current results:

Barack & Michelle Obama	36%
Todd & Sarah Palin	32%
Joe & Jill Biden	17%
John & Cindy McCain	16%
Total votes cast: 3047

* The Washington Post Magazine yesterday detailed the storied law office romance of Michelle and Barack Obama. Even with my hard, unfeeling heart, I managed to read this . . . almost all the way though. Here’s the engagement story:

[Michelle] began to pressure Barack to get married . . . Barack put her off, arguing that marriage was a meaningless institution and that the only thing that mattered was how they felt about each other. Michelle, whose parents had been married for some 30 years, wasn’t buying it.

Then, one night in 1991, he took her to Gordon, an expensive Chicago restaurant, and she started to press him again. He went into his usual tirade against marriage, a dissertation that went on until they ordered dessert. When it came, the plate had a box on it, and in the box was an engagement ring.

“‘That kind of shuts you up, doesn’t it?’” Michelle remembers Barack telling her.

Plus this strange tidbit about Michelle’s early legal work:

The group went out of its way to give Michelle work suited to her interests. When an opportunity came in to handle the budding public television career of Barney, the purple dinosaur poised to become a phenomenon among American children, Goldstein says he and others felt it had Michelle’s name written all over it.

* Sarah Palin reserved her very own place in Hell on Saturday. At a California rally, Palin (poorly) recited a quote from Madeline Albright in an attempt to re-affirm the “feminist” angle of her campaign. The speech began with an endorsement from L.A. National Organization for Women president Shelly Mandel, which I can only imagine is the way Andy Kaufman has chosen to tell us all that he’s still alive. But don’t worry, Palin didn’t get the quote from her extensive research of Clinton-era foreign policy; she got it from Starbucks:

I’m reading on my Starbucks mocha cup, okay? The quote of the day… It was Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State [crowd boos] and UN ambassador. Now she said it, I didn’t. She said, ‘There’s a place in Hell reserved for women who don’t support other women.’ [Crowd approval] . . . OK, now thank you so much for receiving that well—I didn’t know how that was going to go over . . . And now California, let’s see what a comment that I just made how that is turned into whatever it’ll be turned into tomorrow in the newspaper.

I’m not sure that newspapers can really be blamed for twisting Albright’s Starbucks’ Palin’s words, which barely make sense on the level of the sentence. More confusing than the actual speech, though, is that the crowd first boos Albright, then cheers her words when filtered through the finely calibrated Starbucks-Palin machine.

* Last summer, the New York Observer found New York City’s hottest transsexual woman, super fox Jamie Clayton. Now, Logo’s got the first Clayton video interview: [via Gawker]. Clayton talks about “blending in” and New York guys’ pick-up lines.

* Tina Fey is Palin; Queen Latifah is Gwen Ifill:

Plus, why some are amused, confused, by Fey’s success at Palin’s faults: “Wow, she really looks like Tina Fey. Tina Fey has been doing a great job parodying her. Boy, I love Tina Fey. Ack, but I don’t love Sarah Palin. Nononononononono! Bad mental association. Bad.” [via Feministe].

Photo by DanieVDM

* So, the vice presidential debate was last night. Read my live blog of the event here and post-debate response here.

* Quick recap on women’s and GLBT issues because there’s not much to say. The candidates (and moderator Gwen Ifill) were largely silent on women’s issues, beyond Biden name-dropping the Violence Against Women Act and Palin laughably veering the Straight Talk Express to give a brief shout out to “our respect for women’s rights.” Palin and Biden did find some troubling middle ground on gay marriage. Both said that they supported equal benefits for same sex couples, but announced in no uncertain terms that they oppose gay marriage. Palin announced that she was “tolerant” and again used her One Gay Friend as an example of her acceptance of the gay “choice.” Biden said marriage should be a “decision to be left up to the faiths.” Agreed,  Biden, but what the fuck do the “faiths” have to do with the legal definition of marriage?

* Slate explains how debate moderator Gwen Ifill is free to choose her own questions—ostensibly. Jason Cherkis has already said everything I want to say about Ifill: “Could she have bothered to press either candidate (but especially Palin) when they refused—sometimes openly refused—to answer her questions? Or how about a follow-up when Palin suggested expanding the veep’s authority? Or what about healthcare? Ifill couldn’t even press Palin after the candidate dodged a softball on the candidates’ weaknesses.” If anything, Ifill’s perceived “conflict of interest” made her uninterested in doing her job: Simply requiring the candidates to answer her questions instead of shooing them beneath the podium and (drill baby) drilling home their talking point.

* A quick note on personality: Biden’s had 35 years in the Senate to define his persona as an advocate for the middle class; Palin, by her own admission, has had five weeks on the national stage to do the same. Palin did her best to push through as the gosh-darn, winking, folksy Alaskan mama bear in the debate, dropping “Main Street” and “kitchen table” like nobody’s business—even mentioning the “soccer mom” along with the “hockey mom” to broaden her extracurricular-activity appeal. In the end, Biden finally just fucking explains why it’s ridiculous for them to spend the whole debate fighting about who’s more “real.” TPM has a video clip of the moment:

8:50 P.M. It’s on, ya’ll. Prepare your televisions, fire up your Internets, and ready your drinks.

8:58 P.M. What is the best network to watch the debates on? A haggard-looking Chris Matthews is babbling away on MSNBC.

9:00 P.M. Gwen Ifill lays it down. Half domestic, half foreign policy. Chosen by Ifill. Order by coin toss. No “untoward outbursts.” None of this free-flowing Lehrer shit.

9:03 P.M. Can I call you Joe!?

Read More “NOW: Live Blogging the Vice Presidential Debate” »

Live commentary on the vice presidential debate, tonight at Washington University in St. Louis.

Only three hours to go until the most important U.S. vice presidential live blog since Al Gore invented the Internets. Some words for our competitors: Watch out, Senator Biden—Sarah Palin’s been reading the newspapers, all of them! Not so fast, Governor Palin—Joe Biden’s been gaffin’ up gaffe-town since you were in like second grade! Woah there, Gwen Ifill—try to keep the fist-bumping Obama stooge in you in check for an hour and a half— City Paper folk hero Dave McKenna demands it of you! Candidates, clip on the unmovable fortresses which are your hairdos and get ready to rumble! BONUS: This live blog now accepting live comments! Live! Oh my goodness I am so excited!